Mixed Memorial Cup Plays Out

By Joseph Mathias

It was Saturday January 22, 2011, when the players from Dawsons set out on their first defense of the Mixed Memorial Cup. This is one of the top four cups as far as the rating limit goes. Two females are required in the 36 point Mixed Memorial Cup.

Representing Dawsons was Jeff Christian, Mark Rowe, Naomi Bentz, and Kelly Pappuzza. And making the trip from Renton’s Pickled Onion was Steve  Roth, Jeff Sanford, Amy Hill, and Elaine Zanassi.

The players got all warmed up and were ready to go with Pickled Onion’s Jeff Sanford winning the cork. He quickly fired off the first Hat Trick of the match. In game two, Steve hit a Hat Trick to help his team to a quick 2-0 lead, but despite great shooting from both teams through games three and four, Pickled Onion continued to streak their way to a 4-0 lead.

In game five, Kelly and Mark powered their way to Dawson’s first win of the match, but Pickled Onion was not done yet. They won the next two games to extend their lead 6-1.

Jeff Christian and Mark Rowe gathered themselves together and won the next two games for Dawsons to bring the match back to within three games, 6-3.

Jeff Sanford and Steve went on a real tear to win the next five games. Then Kelly and Naomi brought out their girl-power and helped Dawsons to a helping of the next three games to bring the match back within just two, 8-6.

After alternating wins over the next two games, Pickled Onion won six of the next seven games to push their lead out to 15-8.

Now, I saw something similar to this in the Novice Cup, and it doesn’t happen very often, but apparently it can happen with only two games away from winning the match. Dawsons caught on fire to win the next five games to get back within two games, before Steve stepped it up and won game 29 to make it 16-13.

Now Pickled Onion only needs one game to win the match with four games to go, but everything seemed to bounce Dawsons way as they won the final four games and come back from a huge deficit to win the match. Everyone in the bar thought the match was over, but the players themselves. It just goes to show you that you should never give up. This is a funny game, anything can happen.

Congrats to Dawsons for winning the match 17-16. I’m sure Pickled Onion is looking forward to a rematch. Thanks for a great match guys, I will see you in February for the next big challenge.